The Establishment of Physical Aspects of Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (PSLEI)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the learning environment instrument designed to identify teachers’ perceptions towards the physical aspect of science learning environment in secondary schools in Malaysia. Through extensive review of the literature and interviews with experienced teachers, items contribute to the physical learning environment in the science laboratory are identified. In order to enhance the validity of this instrument, two experts are invited to review the instrument. In addition, 800 teachers are involved in this study and validated the instrument, revealing six scales regarding physical aspects of the learning environment. The six scales are (1) furniture and equipment; (2) space; (3) lighting; (4) technology; (5) indoor air quality; and (6) safety aspects. Each item in the instrument has a factor loading range between 0.85 and 0.45, while the alpha reliability coefficient for each scale ranges between 0.86 and 0.76. The findings of this study confirm the validity and reliability of the physical science laboratory environment inventory.